A visit to mosque will be first on agenda when PM Modi visits UAE today

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will start his first trip to UAE, where he’s scheduled to visit the grand Sheikh Zayed mosque in Abu Dhabi, on the first day of his stay in this gulf country.

PM Modi will be the first Indian prime minister to visit UAE in 30 years. UAE, which has more than 25 lakh Indian diaspora population, is also the third largest investor in India after US and China. With $60 bn investment every year, UAE’s investment in India may have taken a dip since 2013, but it’s still considered to be quite significant.

Both countries are likely to discuss ways to improve this further.

Among other things, PM Modi is also likely to discuss the threats of Islamic State, which even UAE considers a big threat to the gulf region.

After visiting the mosque, which has the capacity for thousands to offer prayers and was built using marble from around the world including India, PM Modi will visit a residential camp of more than 25000 Indians. He’s also likely to interact with 300 of them.

Later during his tour, he will also stop at Dubai Cricket Stadium to address a crowd of 50,000 people. Organisers of this event say they had to close the registration process for this event as the demand exceeded the capacity of the stadium. They are now reportedly making arrangements for a giant viewing screen outside the stadium for people to watch PM Modi’s speech.